Patrick Carfizzi News

Elixir enjoys great success in updated version

With MARIA STUARDA at the Met, we're back for the second installment of Donizetti's so-called Tudor Trilogy, with ANNA BOLENA (Anne Boleyn) already off to the gallows and ROBERTO DEVEREUX (with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, it was “Elizabeth and Essex”) still to come. It's the first time the Met is doing all three operas, with the singular soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Anna, Maria and Elisabetta (in DEVEREUX, next month). Her Anna was grand, but her Maria was even better.

Sondra Radvanovsky sings the second of the three Queens in Donizetti's 'Tudor trilogy' when she stars as the devout, doomed Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda, opening January 29. Maria Stuarda tells the story of the political and personal rivalry between two queens: Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin and rival, Queen Elizabeth I. Radvanovsky is the first soprano in Met history who will sing the lead roles in all three Donizetti Queen operas in the course of a single New York season, a feat famously accomplished by Beverly Sills at New York City Opera in the 1970s.

Thrilling theater and unforgettable music -- that's what audiences can expect from Seattle Opera's 2016/17 Season. The company today announced the operas next up at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. They include: The Wicked Adventures of Count Ory, Hansel & Gretel, La traviata, Katya Kabanova and The Magic Flute.

With artful direction and choreography from Susan Stroman, Lyric Opera's mounting of Franz Lehar's well-known 1905 operetta THE MERRY WIDOW sweeps audiences into a joyful waltz, complete with exquisite talent and a production with opulence to spare. This production debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2014 with commanding opera diva Renee Fleming at the helm as the titular widow Hanna Glawari. Fleming truly shines in this production, with the equally talented Thomas Hampson at her side as Count Danilo Danilovich.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the sparkling operetta The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar in a new-to-Chicago production directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. Presented in English with projected titles, the production opens tonight, November 14 with 10 performances through Sunday, December 13.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the sparkling operetta The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár in a new-to-Chicago production to launch the holiday season. It opens tomorrow, November 14, with 10 performances through Sunday, December 13. Performances are in English with projected titles. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the sparkling operetta The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar in a new-to-Chicago production to launch the holiday season. It opens on Saturday, November 14 with 10 performances through Sunday, December 13. Performances are in English with projected titles.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the sparkling operetta The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar in a new-to-Chicago production directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. Presented in English with projected titles, the production opens on Saturday, November 14 with 10 performances through Sunday, December 13. Performance dates are November 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 28 at7:30pm; and December 3, 9, 11, and 13 at 2pm. For tickets and information call (312) 827-5600 or go towww.lyricopera.org/merrywidow.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the sparkling operetta The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár in a new-to-Chicago production to launch the holiday season. It opens on Saturday, November 14 with 10 performances through Sunday, December 13. Performance dates are November 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 28 at 7:30pm; and December 3, 9, 11, and 13 at 2pm. Performances are in English with projected titles.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced the four conductors for the 2015-2016 season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Gary Thor Wedow (pictured, left, Mozart's Don Giovanni), and David Charles Abell (Bizet's Carmen) will be returning to the Lyric Opera. Alexander Polianichko (Dvorak's Rusalka) and Christopher Allen (Donizetti's The Elixir of Love) will be making their Lyric Opera debut.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced the four conductors for the 2015-2016 season in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Gary Thor Wedow (pictured, left, Mozart's Don Giovanni), and David Charles Abell (Bizet's Carmen) will be returning to the Lyric Opera. Alexander Polianichko (Dvorak's Rusalka) and Christopher Allen (Donizetti's The Elixir of Love) will be making their Lyric Opera debut.

The shows must go on! Seattle Opera concludes its 2014/15 season with Richard Strauss' delightful opera-within-an-opera: Ariadne auf Naxos. A rich Seattleite is throwing a dinner party and asks his hired entertainment for the impossible: the capering troupe of comedians must combine their performance with an opera company's rendition of the mythical love and loss of the ancient Greek princess Ariadne. Comedy meets tragedy, and fireworks result!

In a bold move, SDO premiered a production of John Adams' most frequently performed opera

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its 57th season with Gioachino Rossini's hilarious opera, The Italian Girl in Algiers, November 8-16, 2014 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The production will be sung in Italian with English and Italian titles.

Houston Grand Opera's 2014–15 season, the company's 60th anniversary season, includes the world premiere of A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company's 55th new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the continuation of HGO's first Ring cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus's groundbreaking take on Die Walküre; the American premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute and Lee Blakeley's Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers's gift for casting. Together with the company's first presentation of John Cox'sOtello, and the returns of Göran Järvefelt's beloved Così fan tutte and Michael Grandage's hit staging of Madame Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).

In conjunction with the centennial of World War I and the Kansas City debut of the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Silent Night, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents Over There! at the National World War I Museum tonight, August 23. This 1914 field dining experience, co-chaired by Trudy and Jack Gabriel, will include a cabaret performance featuring music of the era.

Houston Grand Opera capped a financially and artistically successful 2013–14 season by presenting Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger —the Polish-Jewish composer's long-suppressed Holocaust opera—to wide acclaim at New York's Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 10–13. Earlier this year, HGO gave the American premiere of the work in Houston with the same cast. There was special praise for the production and performances, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. New York magazine described David Pountney's staging as “a multi-story set so vivid you can practically smell the machine oil and coal smoke,” while the Financial Times said: “The production, imported from Houston, is imposing in every way.” The New York Times called the cast “flawless,” adding: “The conductor, Patrick Summers, drew a surging, textured, richly detailed performance of this challenging score (lasting three hours) from the inspired musicians of the Houston Grand Opera.” WQXR's Operavore summed up the import of the performances: “The Passenger shows how a Holocaust opera can hold the stage while examining important, complex issues—and could certainly point the way for future composers to deal with such important but delicate subject matter.”

In conjunction with the centennial of World War I and the Kansas City debut of the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Silent Night, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents Over There! at the National World War I Museum on Saturday, August 23. This 1914 field dining experience, co-chaired by Trudy and Jack Gabriel, will include a cabaret performance featuring music of the era.

Well, it worked on me! 'The Elixir of Love' opened last night at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and after only a sip or two I fell head over heels for it. At the end of the evening I was, like Nemorino, giddy (oh, let's admit it, the better word is 'drunk') with happiness and delight. It was simply perfection!